Forging a Chosen Destiny Soul of the Free Hero
by Kauris Azurai
Summary: Ash Ketchum comes to the startling discovery that the first ten years of his life never happened. He and his partner, Pikachu investigate into the strange anomaly. They unearth more secrets then expected, and discover more answers then they ever wanted to know.


FaCP;SotFH -Pokemon-

157 (h4q73r

Or "the prolougue" or such...

A homecoming, and so, so much more.

Warning; spoilers for the anime, and possibly the manga.

A narrow dirt path sat deep in the woods, a clearing of decent proportion sat on both sides. There were beautiful conifers of all shapes and sizes just past the roadside, their leaves glistening in the early morning sunllight. Many, many bushes cluttered the ground between the trees. a rattata's paradise. This path was known by many names, the foremost of which being Route-1. Most notably, it was infamous for the sign at the very end of the road. Indeed the sign was most curious; for upon the sign in the upper right corner, was a message truly peculiar.

The graffiti(a crime for sure) was written in perfect english print, as if it was telling the one reading said message _I'm better than you!_

And the message itself was truly most snobby, the person who had written it was probrably some kind of prodigy, having many fans, and terrorizing his less popular rival. It read:(ever so haughtily) _Gary was here! Ash is a LOSER!_

Sigh, such beautiful comraderie, it breaks my heart...not. The aformentioned less popular rival, Ash Ketchum as it were; was currently heading towards said infamous sign, on most the most singular Route-1 Heading back home after a long jouney. You see, he had just gotten back from Sinnoh- the birthplace of his most recent adventure-

Yeah, sinnoh... That place was full of memories, It was the place where his dreams had come so close yet again, only to be crushed out of nowhere by a trainer named Tobias. Tobias had completely demolished Ash's pokemon, losing only two of his in the process. Granted, Tobias' two pokemon were legendary in status, Tobias still would have needed great skill to capture such pokemon in the first place.

As if that wasn't a damper on his spirit already, his best friend; a pokemon breeder named Brock Slate had suddenly revealed he was going to be a pokemon doctor. Abandoning his dream to become the best pokemon breeder, he left, this time for real. It was such a shock, it sent Ash reeling inside. Ash hoped he was happy, wherever he was.

Even though he had kept a straight face throughout Brock's departure, inside he had felt as though he had lost everything... Well, not EVERYTHING everything. He still had Pikachu...

Pikachu was his first pokemon, and his most trusted partner. It had been at his side since the beginning of his journey, and would follow him to its end. Pikachu, was the only being alive he trusted to hold every secret he ever kept. No one, not even his mother, Delia, Knew so much about him. He and Pikachu were inseperable- that much was for sure.

He had met Pikachu the day he was to get his first pokemon. He woke up late that day. Too late it seemed, as all of the usual starter pokemon had been taken already by novice trainers. Gary Oak, Ash's biggest rival, had gotten a special pokemon for his starter, an Eevee. Being the grandson of the great pokemon researcher Professor Samuel Oak, had its perks apparently.

Regardless of the worried babble of his mother, and shouts that regarded changing something very private that rang across the neighborhood, Ash had dashed to Oak's lab in a panic -in his pajamas no less. He was desperate to get his first pokemon.

He had gotten there ready, eager, even desperate to get his first pokemon. He remembered the event fondly. From meeting Pikachu for the first time, and getting his first pokedex, D.E.X.T.E.R.

Pikachu hadn't liked him then.(and told him such several times in the form of a thundershock)But, after shielding Pikachu from a vicious attack by a flock of spearow they became the best of friends. Not immediately of course, that had still taken time.

He was exausted after his journey, Well... who wouldn't be? After all, his trip in sinnoh hadn't exactly been a walk in the park.

He not only collected badges from all the Gyms, and helped every poor passerby with a problem he and his friends saw: but had saved Alamos town from dissapearing into nothingness with the aid of the infamous Darkrai, helped Shaymin get to the flower garden, saving Giratina from a madman and a town from a GIGANTIC glacier was just a bonus, rescued Palkia and Dialga from Cyrus(another madman), stopped the destuction of the world by a mislead and _VERY_ angry Arceus- the pokemon that had helped create Sinnoh- And somehow had enough power to severely injure the dragon trio while all three were fighting it at once, and finally(if that were not enough), got dragged by a small dark shapeshifting pokemon named Zorua into a seach for his "Memma"; Another dark pokemon named Zoroark who was casting crazy illusions of legendary beasts about.(Cue another madman's plot)So yeah, he thought he deserved a break.

He had decided to visit his mother, he had missed her a lot while he was away. He only hoped she wouldn't go into Hyper-mother mode and try to forbid him from leaving again once he got there. He also wondered if Mr. mime had been enough to keep her company while he was away.

Ash sighed. The long trip had worn on him, his usually boundless energy finally petering out. he reached up and pulled off the Sinnoh leauge hat given to him by his mother before he had left for said region, exposing the dark ebony-green locks beneath. Brushing his fingers through is hair, he replaced his cap and tugged it on tighter.

His best pokemon, and brother-in-all-but-blood Pikachu also showed its feelings on the matter by running up Ash's jeans, its paws gripping the cloth expertly. Picking its way up to Ash's shoulder: Pikachu curled up into a ball, gave its yellow fur a couple licks and yawned contentedly. It fell asleep on Ash's shoulder instantly. Ash laughed softly at his friend's behavior, Lifting his hand he gave Pikachu a good scratch behind the ears. It chah'd in delight, before stilling.

'Yeah.' he thought 'sleep, you deserve it.'

He paused in his thoughts to glance at the sign that marked the road to pallet, and chuckled softly so as not to waken 'the sleeping pika'. For on the sign, perfect penmanship alighted, sneering at Ash as he went past.

Ash looked down at his feet while he reminisced.

'Gary. Ash thought. you sure have changed from back then. you used to always pick on me, and flaunt how much better than me you were. -but look at us now, we're good friends, and you've become a professor!'

'You used to say you hated that job, and that the reverse world would make sense before you ever took it, and now... You love studying pokemon more than anything in the world.'

Ash stopped walking, his eyes shifted from his shoes to the road ahead. There was a large windmill up on a hill, just barely visible from the distance.

"We're here Pikachu." he whispered softly. His lips stretched into a grin. "We're here."

* * *

Well, I hope you like it! this is my first fanfic and I hope that it meets the expectations I have for it. now, without any further ado, the disclaimer: I do not own pokemon, Mew does. From Mew came all pokemon. and all pokemon serve Mew as their master... And maybe Satoshi Tajiri too.(Is that his name?)

I'd like to thank many people for their stories, they helped inspire me to UTTERLY SURPASS THEMMM! er, I mean fail at life. heheh.

They are as follows: benthefirst and his story; "the next in line."

dragoness and her awesome pokemon story series.

Quillofmolliemon and her awesome multi-multi-story naruto-pokemon crossover of AWESOME. starting with "shiny demon"

And many many others.

I'd also like to give a special mention to my friend Stolloss who has given me encouragement and just good ol' idle banter. Go read (drat, I forget if they're male or female.) "His" story and one-shots they're pretty awesome. especially the one about perish song. read it.

Kudos to you all, and have a nice day! P.S. Please point out I mistakes I made in this chapter. It horrbl wud B uf SomTIn LUkked LIEk TiS. Kthxbai!


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